The Joys of a Small Town

One of the things I like about living in a small town, village, or hamlet is the level of warm familiarity I find. Last week, as I was doing my business around town, I was able to talk to the Post Office people, the Village people (not to be confused with the Village People), the Royal Bank people, the medical people, and the library people. Only the doctor, whose name rhymes with 'backwards,' received a formal title.

The rest got Tracy, Aldean, Kelly, Bill, Joan, Bev, and Joanne.

My roots in Richmond, Kamloops, and Abbotsford would never have allowed such a personal approach. Back there and then, I would be a numberless face or a nameless account (and if on the phone, a faceless voice).

Of course, as in any small town, village, or hamlet, one has to be wary that people may know more about you than you want them to know. And it gets further complicated if what they apparently know simply isn't true. Like the repeat assumption that I am the principal of a small Christian school in Bow Island. If I walk like one, look like one, and act like one, it doesn't follow that I am one.

They have the right school, just not the right position.

A recent visit to an area parade (but not Foremost) showed yet another side to this issue. I was talking to a very nice couple there, who just happened to be Foremostians, uh, Foremostites – Formostipalians? Whatever: the upshot was that they knew who I was, though I had never laid eyes on them. Somehow, and months before, over coffee at a local cafe, I had been pointed out as (the one and only, the world-famous) Craig Funston.

Dream on, El Fungo.

There is a sense of security and comfort living in a one-stop sign town. Our tragic house fire of nearly five years ago is a case in point. This village, along with countless other communities, came through in spades – something we will never, ever forget. The strange thing is, they weren't even familiar with us at that point.

If I have any complaint about living in (or in our case, seven minutes out of) a small town it would be the lack of or need for basic amenities. Because Lethbridge or Medicine Hat are both quite close and because we are all so mobile, people tend to shop there instead of here. On that basis, that's why it would be hard for some business to make a real go of it here. However, I suggest a bakery, meat shop, drugstore, barbershop – for starters – would be a good start. If these types of services were available, it would follow that the locals would have to support them. And competition and demographics being what they are, that may be unrealistic.

Because I have only been in Foremost for just over six years, some of these may have been tried over the years, so please bear with my lack of knowledge. I just know that businesses bring in people and money, then people and money bring in businesses. I believe that is called "Dr. Fun's First Law of Small Town Economics" - also known as The Second Law of Supply and Demand.

So if Foremost grew to a size where the postmistress didn't know my name, but knew my number, or the bank teller knew my name, but not my numbers, I'm not sure if I would want to stay. My numbers may be prettier than my face, but that warm familiarity would be gone.

What I would really like is to sit down over coffee in the local cafe, and have the locals whisper admiringly: "There's El Fungo, master wit and writer extraordinaire!" That would indeed be a case of warm familiarity, but with a dash of self-deception.